PJ Manney on her book (R)evolution: 'It Doesn't Fit Neatly into Any Boxes'

PJ Manney�s fast-action novel (R)evolution (47North, 2015) has all the ingredients of a Hollywood thriller: a terrorist attack using nanotechnology, a military-industrial conspiracy, a scientist who augments his brain�plus, of course, romance, betrayal, and rapid-fire plot twists.

The movie-style storytelling comes naturally for Manney, who spent most of her career in Hollywood, developing films and writing for television. �I don�t see myself as a literary stylist or as a great wordsmith. I see myself as a � Hollywood-influenced storyteller,� she told me when we spoke on New Books in Science Fiction.



A first-time novelist, Manney says she was �flabbergasted� when she was nominated for this year�s Philip K. Dick Award. �I ended up melding genres and ignoring people�s advice,� she explains. �It doesn�t really fit neatly into any boxes and people who like boxes have a hard time with it� I thought it was just me and my editor who liked it.�

(R)evolution explores transformative technology�a brain-computer interface that relies on nano-materials to create a prosthetic hippocampus and cortex. Manney�s protagonist, Peter Bernhardt, seeks to use the technology for good�to aid brains destroyed by Alzheimer�s disease�but business and political forces try to grab the science for their own nefarious ends. Eventually, Bernhardt experiments on himself, pursuing super-human capacities to literally outsmart his enemies.

Manney had envisioned (R)evolution as a next-generation e-book: one with active Web links to provide context and background information and a soundtrack that allowed readers to hear the music that helps Bernhardt make connections and solve problems. �I wanted you to be able to play the music so you could actually experience his mental process� I wanted people to really have that sense of having a hacked and jacked brain. If you did have a quirkily wired brain to begin with and this ability to pull from endless amounts of data, what would that feel like?�

Yet while Manney�s imagination rushes headlong into the future, e-book technology moves at a slower pace. The e-book version of (R)evolution has no links or music. But Manney hasn�t given up. She is working furiously on the next installment, (ID)entity. That gives e-book designers a chance to up their game and, I hope, design an e-book format worthy of Peter Bernhardt.

(It�s not too late to sign up for a giveaway  of the six books nominated for the 2016 Philip K. Dick Award. Entries will be accepted until midnight Pacific Daylight Time on March 22, 2016.)